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Subject:Re: Quality of source material from Development From:Iggy <iggy_1996dp -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 11 Dec 2001 20:56:48 -0800 (PST)
> I'd insist on one tiny modification: it should be
> mandatory to
> *become* an expert user/tester.
>
> Managers who only recruit writers who are expert in
> technology
> XYZ are skipping a whole lot of good writers, some
> of whom could
> probably do a better job than the XYZ expert you
> actually hired.
I think that's a given. But the *become* part should
not take long.
Technical writers have extreme advantages over the end
users:
1. They have access to the programmers
2. They have access to QA
3. They have access to support and training
4. They have access to other information sources,
whether they be people, documents, or
software/hardware.
You don't need to be an expert user to be an expert
tester/SME. It helps, but you really need to be able
to pull together the big picture and get granular from
there. After all, you'll need to do the same for your readers.
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